Re: Pseudo-disk *almost* ready for the big time.

["Polymorph" <polymorph69@hotmail.com>]

Alex Freed wrote:
> > I'd be interested in something like this but my biggest question would
> > be how would I go about transferring the disk images from my Mac Mini
> > to the SD card? I'm assuming the SD card would be ProDOS formatted, so
> > I'm not even sure if the Mini would recognize it without trying to
> > format it.
>
> Is the Mini running OSX? If so, no problem.
>
> The SD card is  ProDOS formatted if you are using the ProDOS mode,
> (essentially the same as CFFA but using different media)
>
> CiderPress is happy to read/write such cards.
>
> In the (more unique) nibble mode the card contains raw nibblized images of
> 140k
> floppies.
>
> It is trivial to write either kind of images to the SD card under a
> UNIX-like OS:
> Linux and (most likely) OSX.
> "dd" does a great job of copying images to raw storage devices.
>
> I have also written a simple command line program for Win32 that adds images
> to the card.
>
> I had several plans:
> 1. Teach the AVR to read FAT so that images of .nib floppies could be
> written
>      by drag-and-drop.
>
> 2. Make a GUI for my utility that will create a directory of images visible
> at Apple's
>    boot time.
>
> The problem is the apparent total lack of public's interest for the project.
> 48 hours after the announcement the web page was viewed 120 times, but
> exactly zero requests were made to get a board. So I guess production
> boards are not likely to happen. I'm a bit surprized because apparently the
> CF
> interface cards are selling real well. By board does everything pretty much
> the same
> PLUS is provides a virtual DOS 3.3 disk for software that is  not ProDOS
> compatible.
> Maybe it's just too early to tell or maybe the world doesn't need it.
>
> -Alex.

Hey Alex,

Congrats on a great job so far!  Don't give up on your project just
yet! I think that what you really need to do is sell off the cards
strong points as opposed to the cards already existing (which are tried
and trusted). I would be looking for more information on your web site
for:

* what images are possible to run - 140K, 800K, 1.44Mb, Hard disk
images?
* methods of transferring images to the CF for different platforms
* a list of images known to work
* screen shots of your card in action
* info on how different images can be selected
* what systems has the card been tested on
* images of a non-prototype board (yes you may have to bite the bullet
and get some PCB's made up)
* maybe even a tabulated list of features comparing your solution with
the existing cards

Basically, I think you probably have a great product, with the
potential to get even better, but you just gotta do the hard sell and
convince everyone else why your product should be used in preference to
the others. Everything you've mentioned about your design sounds great
- its just the missing pieces of info and the fact that it hasn't been
tried and tested by the public at large that is probably holding you
back. When you are in business, even a part time hobby like this,
you've still got to sell yourself and your product.

I for one am in the market for a CFFA type solution soonish, and maybe
if you do your sell right, you may have a customer right here.   ;-)

Maybe get someone to help you with your HTML to jazz your site up a bit
too.  I can help you gladly for free, but I have limited time these
days with 2 kids. Email me if you would like some help.

cheers,
-p